Linda’s Thoughts – Jeff Hardy’s Smackdown

I couldn’t wait to write about Friday’s Smackdown, not only was it a solid wrestling show, but out of all three WWE’s programs this week Smackdown definitely was the number one show. Believe me a lot of the credit for such a good show goes to Jeff Hardy the WWE champion. Man he is so over and that Albany, NY crowd was on fire, proving that it’s so much better to tape one show a week than have the crowd sitting for a double taping with so much dead time between each show, which in turn just tires out the crowd. This was a hot show and I want to get right to it. Now beware I do have negative things to say, but with all the complaints that I am going to mention, the show still worked for me.

I absolutely loved the opening segment welcoming the new WWE champ, Jeff Hardy. This is when the crowd really went nuts and along with the crowd, Hardy was welcomed with a downfall of confetti. Hardy was a total crowd pleaser and I have to say it was nice to have someone brand new holding that title and opening up the show. Edge was outstanding when he came out in his frustrated mode after losing to Hardy on Sunday. Edge wasn’t his cool, calm self on Friday night. He was all nerved up and pissed about the loss and I just loved the way his character came off. This was a strong segment and watching these two interact was really great to watch.

I have to be honest with you the first match of the night was a disappointment. I don’t believe we saw entrances from MVP, Shelton Benjamin, or Gregory Helms. That shows just what Vince thinks of these guys. The only entrance that we got came from R. Truth doing his walk through the crowd while rapping, What’s Up? There was no importance all placed on this match, which made watching it really uninteresting. They have done nothing to build up Helms since his return to TV. In fact they did more with those little pop-ups than they did building up his return. He’s right back where he was years ago, just there, and I feel bad about that. Shelton seems to be moving down and that’s a pattern that most of us are familiar with. And while I had great hopes that MVP’s long losing streak would get him right back into a main storyline, I’m starting to have my doubts, especially since this match wasn’t given any hype last night. R. Truth the guy who gave us those brilliant vignettes before showing up on the guy that got to do his entrance. All in all I’m very disappointed by the way each one of these guys are being used.

Are you all noticing that Chavo’s best days with Vickie are slowly behind him? Week after week Vickie has treated him like a piece of crap. Friday night we saw Vickie at her best when she had Chavo bring her HOT coffee, and after tasting it she wasn’t pleased because it wasn’t hot. That’s when she had Chavo taste it and then she slapped the cup hard right in his face. I guess the Queen of Smackdown has had it with her nephew. I would imagine we are in store for a Chavo turn, which could be a good thing. I think Chavo needs to be reinvented, he’s gone on too long with the same character it’s time for a change. And now on to the next match. I am so tired of Jesse and Festus. I talk about Chavo’s character going on too long, this tag team got old a long time ago. Festus proved that he’s good in the ring when he opposed Taker last year, but as long as this character continues, I don’ see him going anywhere. There was nothing to the match between Festus and John Morrison. In fact I think that Morrison was just wasted in this one. Now I have gotten a kick out of all the DX ads, but Friday’s was the funniest. I was laughing so hard about the HBK hair joke, and I have to give it to Michaels for acknowledging that he’s losing his hair. It has always killed me that so many sites make sure they get in something about how he’s balding. They can rave about his work, yet so many have to get a hair joke in there. I could care less, his loss of hair doesn’t affect his matches or anything else he does on TV, that’s why I have to give props to the man for letting that become the main DX joke week after week. This was a hell of a funny commercial and I guess the last one for the season.

The match of the night was without a doubt Edge vs. Matt Hardy. Oh my God what a fantastic match. Again like so many other matches on Smackdown you had two of the very best going against each other and they gave the fans a 5 star match. I think these are they type of matches that most of us come to expect on Smackdown. This was just a beaut. The Ezekiel vs. Carlito match was okay, but again I’m a little bothered as to why Carlito and Primo got the tag team belts when they very seldom win, and really the brothers have never made to look like top guys. Just when I thought that they would be focused weekly, like so many others they just don’t seem to be moving up. So while this wasn’t bad, I guess I expected more. I didn’t mind seeing Mr. Kennedy. I was cool with his locker room skit with MVP. Maybe Kennedy needs to work with someone to come off better than being on his own and just plugging his movie. I didn’t mind watching Kennedy give a so-called pep talk to MVP. In fact I liked this segment.

Please tell me, that we aren’t going to get the 2009 version of Mark Henry and Mae Young, with Khali playing the Henry part. That’s the last thing that I want to see. Are you telling me that Vince has given up and doesn’t know what to do with the Great Khali? Hey if it’s between Mae Young and the Kiss Kam I’m voting for Khali and the Kiss Kam. Maryse beat Maria to become the number one contender against Michelle McCool for the Women’s title. I did enjoy the match and you have no idea how much I am hoping that McCool loses to Maryse and we got a brand new women’s champ. And then I wouldn’t mind if a heel Michelle was chasing the title instead of holding on to it.

The main event with Jeff Hardy vs. Kozlov was another match where Kozlov was Kozlov. It’s too bad that Hardy’s first match had to be against Kozlov and not a better opponent. But the interference from Edge and then HHH coming out to help Jeff who was being beaten by both Edge and Kozlov definitely made the ending of Smackdown a good one. Hey I noticed that Triple H was in his bad-ass mode, which is something that we haven’t seen for a while. So I guess it’s safe to say that Edge and Jeff Hardy are feuding and unfortunately for Triple H and many of us he’s stuck with Vladimir. I was really hoping that Kozlov would have been sent to ECW and kept away from this group.

Well anyway I really liked this show even with some of the flaws. The top guys really made it a very solid show and I am so ready for Monday’s Raw along with ECW. And with Royal Rumble coming up I have to say I’m getting excited about that show as well. Also I just want to add this. I thought last night’s WWE Tribute to the Troops was a great show. I wish that we would have gotten two hours instead of one, but I loved it. You know just watching the WWE superstars interact with the troops is one of the coolest things to see, because they always seem so relaxed and sincerely happy to be there. Each year Vince puts on a terrific show and if this is repeated try to see it if you missed it. Okay with the holiday’s coming up I’m going to take the week and weekend off. My husband will be off so I will let him have me all to himself for the week. Oh that poor guy, believe me he would rather see me doing the columns. Seriously I want to say HO HO HO and Happy Holiday’s to all of you and please look for my return in two weeks.